Himala
The highest-grossing movie in the 1980s Himala is a 1982 Ishmael Bernal box-office-hit film that starred the “Superstar in Philippine Entertainment Industry” Nora Aunor, who portrayed the character role as the “miraculous” Elsa. The movie revolves around the story of Elsa who proclaimed that she was seeing the appearances of the Virgin Mary, thus making her an instant hit and most-talked-about girl in the God-forsaken town called Cupang. This film shows how Filipinos tend to believe that there are miracles happening and made them hypnotized by her. Himala also depicts how religious or not the people of Cupang in terms of how devoted they are to the Virgin Mary.
The story started with a scene when there was a sudden solar eclipse in a local town and people-professed cursed drought land called Cupang. Some villagers predicted that it was the end of the world and some of them started praying. Elsa, a young lady who also witnessed the eclipse from the gloomy town, went to the deserted hill to pray. While she was praying, a light glowed; and she apparently proclaimed that the Virgin Mary had appeared to her. Then she told to her adoptive mother and even the local priest the story about the said “appearance” of Mary. She then formed an alliance with some of her friends Chayong, Sepa, and Mrs. Alba and called themselves as the apostles of Elsa. Elsa, together with her apostles, started her healing mission in their place and healed the local villagers. The news about the miraculous healing of Elsa was spread around and people from different places, including the tourists, visited the deserted town to be cured from their sicknesses.
Conflicts among the characters started when the characters of Orly and Nimia were introduced. The curious Orly, an aspiring filmmaker, arrived at Cupang to gather information from Elsa’s closest friends for him to produce a documentary about the miraculous life of Elsa. Nimia on the other hand, a balikbayan prostitute and one of Elsa’s childhood friends, went back to Cupang to establish a cabaret or nightclub house for the tourists. Later on, these conflicts had even got worse when the apostles of Elsa forcibly closed the cabaret. Nimia confronted Elsa, blaming her for the business closure. This was the scene where Nimia reversed the situation and told Elsa that she was the one who was sick and not the people who were her followers. Another conflict that worsened the story was when Orly witnessed and documented Elsa and Chayong were being raped by two high-on-drug men on the barren hill. Orly then confessed to the priest, though he was not Catholic, the incident on the hill. This was a scene where Orly faced his conscience and tried to forget for a while his desire to use the clip for Elsa’s real-life documentary.
Worst conflicts happened on the story and one of them was the cholera outbreak that caused many townspeople in Cupang got poisoned and killed. Chayong, who was saving her virginity before she got married, took her life by hanging herself because of the rape incident on the barren hill. Elsa blamed herself in all of the bad incidents happened to other people, thus concluding her healing mission. Her pregnancy from the rape (the people thought that she was the new “Immaculate Conception” due to her having of a child without a father) and at the same time an instant once-in-a-while heavy rain in their town once again regained the beliefs of the Cupang people in miracles and believed that the curse had left the town.
The confession of Elsa to the public on the barren hill brought a strong impact to everyone, thus served as the climax on the film. Elsa finally confessed that there were no miracles but these were in the hearts of each of the townspeople in Cupang. The denouement then followed when Elsa was shot in the middle her speech. The chaotic people then ran in panic and this led to stampede that killed several innocent people including the children. In the end, Elsa died in her adoptive mother’s hands. Sepa, her friend, announced that she was a saint. Then the people on the barren hill started praying to the Virgin Mary for the soul of Elsa to rest in peace.
The “appearance” of the Virgin Mary to Elsa made a great impact in Cupang. Why? This made the character of Elsa changed from being ordinary barrio lass to famous faith healer. Elsa brought a lot of changes and a collective hysteria to the people in their town. In terms of the people’s religious faith, the people tend to believe that Elsa was the Cupang’s “Virgin Mary” and somewhat served her as their god (the scene showing “Elsa loves you” served as a proof.) This highest-grossing movie was one of the best films ever made because it talked about the religious beliefs of the people to the Virgin Mary, since many of the Filipinos were devoted Catholics. It proved that people must claim to themselves that there are no miracles but they do happen in their hearts.
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